“RAFA” RAFAEL NADAL, NOVAK DJOKOVIC ON SAME SIDE OF THE 2016 U.S. OPEN TENNIS DRAW, MILOS RAONIC ALSO IN TOP HALF BY RICKY DIMON

Written by: Staff on 27th August 2016

Western and Southern Open tennis tournament

"RAFA" RAFAEL NADAL, NOVAK DJOKOVIC ON SAME SIDE OF THE 2016 U.S. OPEN TENNIS DRAW, MILOS RAONIC ALSO IN TOP HALF BY RICKY DIMON

epa05494453 Rafael Nadal of Spain hits a return shot to Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay during their second round match of the Western & Southern Open tennis championships at the Linder Family Tennis Center in Mason, near Cincinnati, Ohio, USA, 17 August 2016. EPA/TANNEN MAURY |

Marin Cilic of Croatia hits a return shot to Andy Murray of Great Britain during the final of the Western & Southern Open tennis championships at the Linder Family Tennis Center in Mason, near Cincinnati, Ohio, USA, 21 August 2016. EPA/TANNEN MAURY

The U.S. Open draw ceremony took place on Friday at the Billie Jean King National Center, and it did not do top seed Novak Djokovic any favors. Starting in the fourth round, the world No. 1 may have an extremely difficult path the entire rest of the way–especially in a top half of the bracket that also includes Marin Cilic, Rafael Nadal, and Milos Raonic.

In Djokovic’s quarter, John Isner looms large as a potential adversary for the defending champion in the last 16. Richard Gasquet is the second-highest seed in Djokovic’s eighth of the bracket, but the Frenchman has been dealing with physical problems of late and would have to be considered the underdog against Isner in the third round. Looking even beyond that, Cilic–the recent Cincinnati champion and also the 2014 U.S. Open winner–is a possible quarterfinal opponent for Djokovic.

Aside from being in the same quarter as Raonic, Nadal has to like his chances of making some serious noise in New York City. He and Denis Istomin put on an entertaining night-session show in 2010, but Nadal still sealed the deal in straight sets and there is no reason to think there will be any different result in this year’s first round. The Uzbek, after all, is in the midst of an awful 2016 campaign whereas Nadal has momentum from the Rio Olympics, where he won gold in doubles and placed fourth in singles.

Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina reacts during the game against Andy Murray of Great Britain of men’s singles gold medal match of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games Tennis events at the Olympic Tennis Centre in the Olympic Park in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 14 August 2016. EPA/MICHAEL REYNOLDS

The third section of the bracket is arguably the most intriguing, in part due to the difficulty of Stan Wawrinka’s path and the relative ease of Juan Martin Del Potro’s road. At the mercy of the draw because he is unseeded and needed a wild card to get in, Del Potro escaped having to face any top-eight seed until at least the fourth round–and even then it would be a struggling Dominic Thiem. The 2009 U.S. Open champion and Rio Olympics silver medalist kicks off his campaign against Diego Schwartzman before possibly meeting Steve Johnson. The potential Del Potro-Johnson second-round battle would be especially interesting because Johnson called out the USTA for giving Del Potro a wild card instead of handing another one out to a young American.

Wawrinka has to go up against Fernando Verdasco right away and could face Alexander Zverev in the third round. A familiar foe–and not a particularly friendly one–in Nick Kyrgios is the likely fourth-round adversary for Wawrinka.

Speaking of mouth-watering matchups in which no love would be lost, there is another one already set at the very bottom of the draw. Two-time gold medalist and 2012 U.S. Open winner Andy Murray is beginning his fortnight against Lukas Rosol. Murray, who has a favorable draw overall, could meet either Feliciano Lopez or Grigor Dimitrov in the fourth round before a potential quarterfinal collision with Kei Nishikori.

David Goffin and Ivo Karlovic, both of whom are in the midst of outstanding seasons, also find themselves in Murray’s section. But the Scot can only run into one of Nishikori, Goffin, and Karlovic and would not do so until the quarterfinals. Goffin and Karlovic are in line for a third-round showdown, although the Belgian has to open against in-form American qualifier Jared Donaldson.